A PEEP INTO THE KARAṆAS OF TAÑJĀVŪR – PART 3

This is third in the order. Nāṭya śāstra describes the karaṇa as follows.

शुकतुण्डौ यदा हस्तौ व्यावृत्तपरिवर्त्तितौ।

ऊरू च वलितौ यस्मिन् वलितोरुकमुच्यते।।

The Karaṇa is called as “Valitoruka” where the śukatuṇḍa hastas are in Vyāvṛtta and Parivartita mode and thighs (ūrū) are in the valita position.

Abhinava gupta further adds that Vyāvṛtta and parivartita should be done simultaneously at chest level and along with the ākṣiptā cārī, they fall down. At end of parivarta karaṇa, they śukatuṇḍa hastas should face down. The ending position is baddhā cārī.

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The panel at Tañjāvūr temple, The figure has four hands. The upper right hand touches the antelope and left has fire. The other two hands hold a śūla like structure. Between the feets left is sama position and left is turned in.

The figure’s leg level can be accepted but the hands are not following the description of Abhinavabhāratī. Abhinavabhāratī clearly states that the hands should be at chest level. But the right hands are thigh level in the panel. There could be two possible solutions to this problem.

The panel follows the so called south Indian version which is not available today.

The order omits “Valiotrukam” and panel 3 and 4 are the phases of the next karaṇa “Apaviddha”.

I prefer the first since the lists has all the karaṇas. Hence the possibility of omitting a karaṇa would have lesser possibility.